Component Count Reduced, Filter-Less H-Bridge Multilevel Inverter with Series and Parallel Connected Switches

Abstract

This paper introduces a new premium multilevel inverter (MLI) topology with cascaded H-Bridge and series-parallel connected switches to synthesize the fundamental sine wave with various levels of voltage. The component count is decreased by reducing the number of power switching devices, optoisolators, voltage gate drivers, snubber and filter circuits. The combination of two power switches and a separated DC (SDC) source is called an SDC module. Five SDC modules are required for a 63-level MLI and six SDC modules are required for a 127-level MLI. In this paper, both a 63-level and a 127-level filter-less single-phase MLIs are deliberated. The switches are controlled by employing a newer pulse width modulation (PWM) technique called periodic reduced digital carrier level shift PWM (PRDCLSPWM). As the number of levels increases to a greater extent, the total harmonic distortion diminishes without the need of filter circuit and the performance level also increases. Comparative analysis of proposed 63-level and 127-level MLIs topology with the conventional and modern topologies has been presented in terms of power switches, gate driver circuit requirement, DC voltage sources and THD limits. PRDCLSPWM scheme is derived and analyzed for the proposed 63-level and 127-level MLIs to eliminate low-order and high-order harmonics. Moreover, the performance of the proposed modulation scheme is compared with the most commonly used schemes. The modeling and simulation are done with MATLAB/SIMULINK 2016a.